EXPERIENCE

DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING (DFM)

A DFM system was implemented to address parts that were repeatedly failing first article inspections.

BEFORE

At a Fortune 500 medical device company, engineering parts had a high rate of failure at the first article inspection process. The design team would send drawings and specifications to their suppliers to manufacture the parts, but the parts often failed to meet the stated specifications at the first article inspection. The frequent failures resulted in a multitude of engineering builds, frustrated both the design team and the suppliers, and impacted the product launch schedule.


 

IMPLEMENT DFM

We created a DFM system that facilitated a thorough review of the part design, drawings, and specifications between the design team and the suppliers. The design team was trained to generate part drawings and specifications that clearly communicated the part requirements. Suppliers worked with the design team to ensure that specifications were reasonable and could be met, and then everyone was held accountable to these specifications.


 

AFTER

After the DFM system was implemented on a new product project, the design team increased their first article part acceptance rate significantly, decreased the number of emergency engineering builds, and met the product launch schedule. Their suppliers overwhelmingly approved and accepted the DFM system. The DFM system was then implemented into the company's product release procedures.